Inside Star Trek is a comprehensive, and occasionally whimsical, look at the development of a television phenomenon. It is also the story of Gene Roddenberry himself, his dreams and his difficulties. In addition to interviews with William Shatner, DeForest Kelley and Isaac Asimov, and insights into the character of Spock as told by Mark Lenard in the role of Sarek, the album also includes segments recorded live in front of a studio audience. These live segments include anecdotal stories of the making of Star Trek and his made-for-TV movie The Questor Tapes, as well as commentaries on show business in general.

In 1999, Columbia re-released Inside Star Trek as a part of the two-CD Star Trek: The Motion Picture - 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition. More than simply a re-issue, this version included five never-before-released tracks, including additional live segments from 1976 featuring anecdotal stories regarding Roddenberry's short-lived television series Genesis II (film) and Gene's insights on technological achievements, as well as new framing tracks by Nichelle Nichols, recorded in 1998. Nichols also spliced in a minute long editorial into the track "William Shatner meets Captain Kirk". In a peculiar typographical error, the track "The Enterprise Runs Aground" was erroneously renamed "The Enterprise Runs Around" on this release. This error appears both on the back card and the liner notes.

"They said to us at that time; 'We would like you to take out the female because we don't believe her in command of anything', and to show the intelligence behind that remark, they said; 'And while you're at it, get rid of the guy with the ears'."

- Gene Roddenberry

"I think one fan comment we got quite often during the third year was; 'How come Captain Kirk gets a new girl every week?'""Well, he uses up the old one!"

- Gene Roddenberry and William Shatner

"I lost the argument. Questor did not get the girl. But I remember driving home that night, I was kind of happy. I was saying 'You know, in your whole writing career how many times will you get an opportunity to create a whole new area of intolerance?'"

- Gene Roddenberry

"Maybe kids are smarter than us. They think dreams do come true. See, if we can imagine better ways, a happier life, a better world, then somehow if you can believe it will happen, it will happen."

- DeForest Kelley

"There are other science-fiction shows, no names please, in which it is quite clear that the writers and the producer know nothing about science, and don't care, and that shows too. And it is impossible to be a self-respecting viewer and accept it."

- Issac Asimov

"If I had been the things that I dreamed of being; agile, athletic, admired and popular, I know now that I never would have ended up with as happy a life."

- Gene Roddenberry

"You cannot write in science fiction (...) without realizing that sexual equality is as basic as any other kind of equality. This does not mean that in future pictures I will ever stop using women as sex objects, as I will not, but to be fair we have always used and will be continuing to use males as sex objects, too. As a matter of fact, when I was younger and much more agile I've been used as a sex object myself; I think it's great fun."